


Three Years

by astradanvers



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Astra swims, F/F, Secrets, Unusual Pairings, but who knows, possibly with a shark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 02:29:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7995364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astradanvers/pseuds/astradanvers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliza’s been keeping a secret from her daughters for three years. And she’s been keeping a secret from her secret for the same amount of time. Everything is soon to come out though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Years

**Author's Note:**

> @shadhavar1126 I’m finally getting around to posting this. I still completely blame you for it. This pairing is one that simply snuck up on me and @shadhavar1126 encouraged me to write it so this happened. Hope you guys enjoy.

Eliza sits out on the side deck, morning paper still rolled up before her and cup of coffee as of yet untouched. She glances to her left, the ocean spread out barely a hundred yards from her home, the sound of waves attempting to sooth away all the turmoil clamoring for purchase in her mind. Three years tomorrow, how in the world has she let this roll on and around until three full years have passed. It feels like the blink of an eye, it feels like it's been forever.

“Penny for your thoughts,” a voice says from behind her and Eliza tilts her head back over the back of her chair, looking up into crystal blue eyes.

She smiles a little, though even she's positive it doesn't reach her eyes, “I was thinking maybe the day after tomorrow I'd go see the girls.”

The woman in the doorway tilts her head to the right and instantly Eliza is transported three years back.

* * *

 

“Is this seat taken?” a voice questions from her right and Eliza glances over, shocked by the sight of the woman there.

She shakes her head, “N-no, it's free,” she finally manages to say.

The woman she's still observing, possibly staring at, slides into the open seat. She's a tall woman, five eight, if Eliza were to guess and she doesn't really think it's a guess if she's honest. Her hair is a dark brown, except for one white streak at her temple that she's woven into a braid which connects with a second at the back of her head and wraps around the messy bun she's made of the rest of her hair. Eliza knows her instantly but she's also terrified of what that knowledge could mean.

Drawing in a deep breath Eliza holds out a hand, “I'm Eliza,” she says, “Eliza Danvers.”

The dark haired woman smiles, grasps Eliza’s hand, perhaps just the slightest bit too tight, “Astra,” she says, “my name is Astra Inze.” Any doubt in Eliza’s mind disappears in that moment.

* * *

 

Eliza returns to the present to find those same blue eyes watching her with the same intensity, the same curiosity, “I think it's time you met them,” she says, after all Astra had planned to stay through the weekend, longer Eliza hoped, “don't you?”

The panic in Astra’s eyes is clear to anyone who knows how to read her, Eliza knows better than most. Slowly though the panic fades away, replaced with something that Eliza has found reflected back at her more and more, “Perhaps you have a point.”

Watching as Astra circles the table, Eliza smiles, “Morning swim?”

Astra nods, “Yes, I should not be long.”

“Okay,” Eliza says quietly, confident that Astra hears. She brushes her fingers along Astra’s wrist, “Be careful,” she says despite the knowledge, not that Astra knows she knows, that nothing could harm Astra if it tried.

Smiling Astra leans over and presses her lips to Eliza’s, “Am I not always?” she whispers and Eliza can't help the small nod and smile she gives in return.

As Astra makes her way off the deck and down onto the sand another memory is pulled to the front of Eliza’s mind.

* * *

 

“It is not the sun,” Astra nearly growls.

Eliza for her part simply leans back in her chair and tries not to laugh. Astra is brilliant, beyond brilliant honestly. Eliza had always wondered where Kara’s brilliant mind came from and for some reason always assumed it was her father, after six months going toe to toe with Astra Inze over this theory or that in regards to the data they'd been presented on Superman’s molecular structure, thank you Clark, she was positive Kara’s brilliance came from her aunt.

“Look again,” she says, wondering how in Rao’s name (she'd picked it up from Kara, okay) a woman as smart as Astra had never figured out that the sun was what provided her power.

“How am I supposed to tell from these rodents?”

Finally with a shake of her head Eliza stands and makes her way over to the table where Astra is standing. “This little guy,” she says, “I call him Bill. Is our control. He spends an average amount of time in the sun each day, never more and never less.” Bill is spinning happily in his wheel, nothing out of the ordinary about his home except for its steel reinforced toys and three food trays. She points to the next mouse on the table, “This girl, I call her Sadie, is the one who receives less sunlight.” Sadie’s toys are all standard plastic, all in perfect working order, and she has three food trays like Bill but only one of them seems to have been eaten from. “And this is Danny,” she says, pointing to the last containment area, “he's received nearly constant sunlight or simulated sunlight since the moment he was injected with the Kryptonian DNA. All three of them have been injected with the DNA,” she says.

Astra stares at her, “How are you so positive?”

“Because I've tested everything else,” Eliza says simply. She doesn't say that she spent an entire afternoon going through Clark’s information at the Fortress of Solitude or that she raised a teenage Kryptonian or that many floors below them in the basement there are scientists who want nothing more than to manufacture experiments to find how to cause Kryptonians pain. Only when Eliza looks up does she realize how close Astra is, how they've gravitated towards one another.

Before she can blink Astra has leaned in, capturing Eliza’s lips in a severely unexpected kiss, “I still do not agree with you,” Astra says even as she lifts Eliza up, the human’s legs wrapping around the taller woman’s waist.

“I never thought that you would,” Eliza says on a laugh, but it's soon lost to Astra’s lips as they enter Eliza’s office and Astra taps the door shut with her boot.

* * *

 

Eliza reaches for the newspaper, unrolling it and smiling at the article written across the front of it, “Good for you, baby girl,” she says quietly.  She runs her finger over Kara’s name under the article about a new youth center in downtown National City.

She reaches for her phone, swiping her thumb across the picture of Kara and Alex that takes up the lock screen. She smiles slightly at her wallpaper, a picture of Astra stretched out on Eliza’s bed with the cat Eliza had somehow adopted curled up on her chest. She pulls up her contacts and dials Kara, waiting patiently.

“Hello,” a voice comes across the phone lines and instantly Eliza knows it does not belong to the daughter she called.

Just to be sure she glances at her phone screen, “Alex?”

“Hey, Mom,” Alex says with a chuckle. “Sorry, Kara’s cooking breakfast,” there is an undertone to Alex’s tone that Eliza chooses to ignore. “Hang on, I'll switch you so speaker.”

“Eliza!” Kara cries and Eliza chuckles, “Did you see?”

“Why else would I be calling at seven in the morning, you goof?” Eliza questions with a chuckle. “It's good to know Cat is looking out for you.”

“As if I'd let her flounder forever as my assistant,” a new voice chimes in, followed by a more polite, “good morning, Eliza.”

“Hey, I'm still your assistant!”

Cat’s chuckle follows the comment, “Why yes, you are.”

“Nana! Make them stop, they've been like this all morning,” Carter cries, “I'm gonna lose my breakfast before I have any.”

Eliza laughs, “You'll be fine, Carter. Let your Ma have her celebrations.”

“But they're all in on it.”

“Of course they are,” she glances towards the ocean, unsurprised to find Astra swimming alongside a dolphin, she tilts her head, or is it a shark? She shrugs, Astra will be fine. “So besides calling to let Kara know how very proud I am of her I also have some news.”

“What's up, Mom?” Alex questions, closer to the phone.

“What your daughter so eloquently asked,” Cat says and Eliza distinctly hears her give a small gasp before hearing the sound of someone being smacked on the shoulder. “Keep your pinching fingers to yourself, Alexandra, or you'll find out how comfortable the guest room is.”

“Stop it both of you,” Kara says and Eliza shakes her head, she'd never thought her girls would find someone to balance out their so far in the light they’re living sunshine and so far in the dark they could pass for a shadow but Cat Grant was it. She still worried that Alex and Cat would clash with their tempers and their unique senses of humor but Kara seemed to be able to balance them out just as Cat balanced Kara and Alex. “Now what did you have to tell us, Eliza.”

The older Danvers shakes her head, “I'm coming to visit for the weekend.”

“YES!!” Carter cheers and Eliza smiles, at least someone is always happy for her to visit. Though that could have something to do with the gift she always brings him, she makes a mental note to drag Astra to the mall later.

She fiddles with her coffee mug, “And as long as you all don't mind the extra guest I-um-I have a friend I’d like to bring.”

“Of course, Eliza,” Cat says instantly, and Eliza knows that Cat realizes at least what she means by the statement, she doubts Alex and Kara do. “I'll have a car pick the two of you up at the airport and bring you to the office, if you'd like.”

“Actually I was hoping Alex could pick us up,” she says, she knows Alex needs to know what's going on before Kara sees Astra.

“Sure, just let me know what time.”

“Nine Friday morning,” Eliza says, “I ordered the tickets a few hours ago.”

“I'll be there,” Alex promises.

Eliza smiles, “Great. I'll let you all get back to breakfast and I'll see you on Friday.” She pauses a moment, “I love you all,” she says.

“Love you too,” they all chant and her smile grows even more.

“See you on Friday,” someone says, she's unsure of just who before the call ends.

Eliza ends the call and sets her phone aside just in time to feel cold water land on her head, “Astra Inze,” she growls but the amusement in her voice belies her anger, “you should run,” she says, pushing back from the table. She turns just in time to see Astra disappear into the house.

* * *

 

“What are we doing?” Eliza questions, her head resting on her hand as she watches Astra pull her t-shirt over her head. 

“I had thought that was obvious, Dr. Danvers,” Astra says, glancing over her shoulder as she sits on the edge of the bed, reaching for her boots.

“Parts of it,” Eliza says. She slides from beneath the sheets, reaching for her robe and drawing it around herself, “But are we just this, Astra?” she asks quietly. “It's been six months and we've only had sex. Amazing sex but that's all it's been, is that all you want it to be?”

Astra steps closer to Eliza, her hands finding purchase first on the other woman’s shoulders before she slides them down, ending in a circle of the human woman’s waist, “I had thought that was what we agreed to, yes.”

“Is that all that you want?”

Eliza can see the hesitance in the set of Astra’s jaw, “For now,” she says quietly, “for now, yes.” She tightens her hold when Eliza tries to pull away, “I have a few things that I must do, Eliza, for my project,” she's quiet a moment. “I do not know what will happen once they are completed. I do not want you to wait for me.”

Turning in Astra’s arms Eliza says the first thing that comes to mind, “What if I want to wait for you?”

“Please don't,” Astra says, “I am afraid I may fail you. I have failed so many in my past, I could not survive failing you as well.”

Slowly Eliza nods like she understands, she doesn't, “Promise you'll still come to me for as long as you can.”

Astra leans forward to press a kiss to Eliza’s lips, “I could not stay away,” she says quietly.

* * *

 

Eliza traces patterns across Astra’s collarbone, her head resting on the taller woman’s chest. “We have to go to the mall,” she says, voice heavy with sleep.

“Firefly,” the nickname always makes Eliza’s heart flutter, “before we can go anywhere we have to make it out of the bed for more than an hour.”

Chuckling Eliza pushes herself up a little, leaning down to press her lips to Astra’s, “Can I help it if I missed you?” she asks, “You were gone far too long.”

Astra smiles up at the woman above her, “I am not going anywhere,” she says, voice barely more than a whisper, “I am here now.”

Collapsing into Astra’s arms, Eliza allows herself to be held, “I was so scared you weren't coming back.”

* * *

 

Astra stands at the kitchen island, a cup of coffee forgotten at her fingertips, “I have to go,” she says, barely loud enough for Eliza to hear.

The other woman has known this was coming, that whatever Astra is trying to dismantle, is close to its detonation faze. “When will you be back?”

“I do not know,” Astra says, looking up to Eliza. Because despite their conversation a year ago, just sex has turned to movies and dinners and nights spent tangled together as more than simply a knot of sweaty limbs. Eliza leans against the opposite side of the island but she doesn't reach for Astra, “I do not make promises that I cannot keep,” she says, “not any longer but I promise that I will do my best to come home.”

Eliza doesn't draw attention to the word that's slipped from Astra’s lips and Astra steadfastly ignores it, “Be sure you do,” Eliza tells her simply.

“You are not to wait for me,” Astra says.

“I won't,” Eliza says with a nod of her head. They both know that there is truth and lie within the statement. Eliza won't stop living her life, won't put things on hold, but she also isn't going to look for someone else to share her bed. She won't try to find someone else to fall in love with because she never thought she'd find someone after Jeremiah and yet the woman across from her slipped into her life, then into her bed and now she's slipped so deeply into Eliza’s heart she can never be removed.

Astra nods, walks around the island, pausing for a moment at Eliza’s side, words neither of them are ready for on the tip of her tongue. Instead she leans forward, presses her lips to Eliza’s and draws something from the woman to carry with her.

* * *

 

“I love you,” Astra says quietly.

Eliza pushes herself up so she can look down at her, there are tears welled up in her eyes. She leans down to press her lips to Astra’s, “I love you too.”

They fall quiet for long moments, Eliza settling once more against Astra’s chest, “I am terrified of seeing her again.”

For a moment Eliza freezes but then she releases the breath she’s been holding for three years and relaxes into the arms holding her. “She's going to be so happy to see you again,” she says quietly, “but it may take her a little while to get there.”

She wants to ask how long Astra has known she knew, “Since before that day in the lab,” Astra supplies, and Eliza is reminded once again that the woman holding her knows her well enough to basically read her mind.“You knew so much about Kryptonians, so much about raising them on Earth. I knew who had raised Kal-El, I watched him from afar once I landed. But I had never been able to find Kara, assumed until I caught sight of a photo on your desk that she died on Krypton with our family.” She draws patterns across Eliza’s shoulder, “I knew why you were keeping her from me, I could not blame you. I began to fall in love with you because of how much you loved her, because of what you were doing to be sure she was protected.”

“I’m sorry I waited so long.”

Astra shakes her head, “No, if I had wanted this earlier I would have let you know I knew. I had to end Myriad before it began, I could not do that and worry for Kara at the same time.” Raising up Eliza looks down at Astra, “What?”

“You stopped Myriad?”

The Kryptonian nods, “I stopped it, I destroyed it.”

“But -”

“Someone showed me that Myriad was not the way to change the world that I always believed it to be.” Astra brushes hair behind Eliza’s ear, cupping the other woman’s face, “You argued your point on it for three years, did you really believe I failed to listen to any of the things you said.”

Eliza shrugs, “You were always so sure it was the right thing.” She's remembering all the arguments they'd had after they “found” the information regarding a Kryptonian safeguard meant to leave humans under mind control. Astra had always maintained if there was a strong enough, fair enough, just enough Kryptonian to rule and help save Earth then Myriad should be used, Eliza had always disagreed.

“I had to be, at least outwardly. Inside, after just three days of listening to your arguments, much less three years, I knew Myriad had to be destroyed.”

Smiling Eliza leans down and presses her lips to Astra, “I love you.”

Astra smiles, trails her fingers through Eliza’s hair as she settles on her chest once more, “I love you too.”


End file.
